Karl Wendlinger: 30 years since career-defining Monaco GP

F1: Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports, Technology, Automotive

4.8 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

30 years ago, Karl Wendlinger’s Formula 1 career was just beginning to rise after a strong start to 1994 with Sauber.

But that all changed in first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, when the Austrian lost control of his car as he approached the Nouvelle chicane and crashed into the barriers.

After a long recovery to regain racing fitness, Wendlinger returned a year later at the Spanish Grand Prix. He wasn’t the same driver though, and at the end of 1995, his time in F1 was up.

Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Karl talks in great detail about the crash; why he still doesn’t know the cause, how it affected him physically and mentally, what motivated him to race again, and how he processed leaving the sport.

Plus, Karl remembers coming through the Mercedes junior programme with Michael Schumacher and the warm welcome Ayrton Senna gave him when he first arrived on the grid.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	F1 drivers are extraordinary.
0:06.6	Their competitive spirit, combined with their ability to control a racing car on the limit at
0:11.6	200 miles an hour, sets them apart from the rest of us.
0:16.6	If they lose control, if they crash, even if they get hurt, there's only one thing on their
0:21.9	minds. They want to get back in the car and race again.
0:25.0	Carl Venlinger has no memory of his career-defining accident at Monaco in 1994. But he does remember how determined he was to get back in an
0:37.1	F1co. The whole July I said I want to continue racing. Then I said,
0:42.5	once to the doctor, when can I go home?
0:44.5	And I said, not now, why?
0:45.5	Because I want to get fit to do racing again,
0:47.5	huh? It was like a little child, you know?
0:49.5	I wanted to racing again. I wanted to racing again.
0:52.0	Maybe this also accelerated a little bit the
0:55.0	improvement that I got better and better.
0:57.5	Carl did make an incredible return, but he quickly realized that something had changed.
1:04.0	It would have been a big drama for me with not being able to get the comeback.
1:08.0	This would have destroyed me mentally completely.
1:10.0	But then I tried it, I got the chance. I couldn't confirm it with good performance.
1:15.6	Maybe I was nervous. Maybe I was whatever. I was just not fast enough.
1:19.6	Somehow I got the impression, this is my way of life and somehow a great formala won career was not part of my life. Welcome everyone. I'm Tom Clarkson and this is F1 Beyond the Grid.
1:38.3	Carl Venlinger's Formula One career was very much a case of what might have been.
1:44.6	A product of the Mercedes Jr. program alongside Michael Schumacher and Heinz Harold
	...

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